Kaka, Arizona, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect jalapeno, palo verde, date palm, and prickly pear to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kaka, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Kaka lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Kaka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kaka — the short answer
Kaka, Arizona: USDA zone 9a, about 345 days between hard freezes, across 318 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 15
- Maricopa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 26
- Maricopa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~345
- Maricopa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 318 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Maricopa County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Kaka's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kaka's 345-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kaka
Each reading below is measured for Kaka itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsKaka runs about 345 days between hard freezes (read from Maricopa County, the closest normal to Kaka) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredKaka sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Kaka is in
Kaka sits in the Sonoran Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Kaka's own centroid rather than borrowed from Maricopa County.
What Grows in Kaka
Plants matched to Kaka's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Kaka?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Kaka
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kaka. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- C-10-01 36BDDNitrate · 1100 ft
- C-10-01 36CAANitrate · 1200 ft
- D-11-01 14CAA1Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- D-11-01 14CAA2Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- PapagoMining · 8.6 mi
- Papago MineMining · 8.6 mi
- GreenbackMining · 8.7 mi
- Greenback MineMining · 8.8 mi
- Isabella MineMining · 8.8 mi
- D-11-02 21BCANitrate · 8.8 mi
- Unknown ProspectsMining · 9.1 mi
- C-10-02 10DDCNitrate · 9.3 mi
Measured from Kaka's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Kaka.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kaka
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Kaka
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kaka average
Your land is one point inside Kaka
Everything above resolves to Kaka as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 318 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Maricopa County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Kaka Average
Kaka Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Kaka
- ●One soil character for all of Kaka
- ●Frost dates read at Kaka's scale: Jan 15 to Dec 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kaka's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kaka
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kaka, Arizona — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kaka averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kaka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kaka average
How we know this about Kaka
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Maricopa County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Kaka
When does frost risk typically end in Kaka?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kaka typically lands around Jan 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Feb 5.
When is the first frost in Kaka?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kaka typically arrives around Dec 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 12, so the watching starts about Nov 26 — about 345 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kaka?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kaka sees about 345 frost-free days — roughly Jan 15 through Dec 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 5 to Dec 12, about 310 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kaka?
The federal record around Kaka is a meaningful one — 19 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (12), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Kaka?
From about Nov 26 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kaka's scale — its 9a band and its 345-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kaka's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Kaka’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Kaka's own scale — the 318 acres it covers and 19 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kaka's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 19 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kaka, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kaka's boundary and the 318 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Kaka's own centroid, the Sonoran Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Kaka has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Maricopa County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kaka's 318 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Maricopa County
- The candidate plant list — Arizona's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Arizona
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Maricopa County
- The growing challenges every Arizona grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arizona
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Maricopa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kaka's 318 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kaka you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 318 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Kaka-wide figureread your own land →